Local News

With 3,900 letters going out to Lancaster County residents possibly eligible for extended unemployment benefits last week, lines have been long at the local S.C. Employment Commission office in recent days.

The office on North White Street has been open for special hours since Saturday to handle the new claims, which are good for 13 weeks of additional unemployment benefits.

Roughly 390 people showed up at the employment office Saturday to sign up for the extended benefits, said local Assistant Director David Veal. Lines snaked around the building on Monday.

A Kershaw man remains behind bars after deputies say he performed sex acts on four minors and provided them with alcohol, cigarettes and pornography.

Hazel Hilton, 68, of 6395 N. Matson St., was charged June 24 with four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and supplying minors with tobacco or cigarettes.

The S.C. Budget and Control Board awarded the town a $100,000 competitive grant to build a new, 6,000-square-foot town hall on June 27. The new town hall is expected to cost about $700,000. It's expected to be paid for with the grant, a loan and the town's $1 million-plus in savings.

Lancaster County Library Director Richard Band told County Council on Monday night that he was thankful the Del Webb Library at Indian Land was being considered for funding in an upcoming bond referendum.

The library, which has been funded mostly by Pulte Homes' Del Webb, the developer of Sun City Carolina Lakes, and business and individual donations, needs another $200,000 to have a decent book collection on opening day. The library is slated to open at the end of the year or January 2009.

Lancaster County authorities were busy Wednesday, investigating two unrelated cases. They began the day with the discovery of the remains of Ada Judith Torruco, 33, who had been reported missing in June, and a short time later, responded to a fatal shooting at Cedar Creek Bait and Tackle Shop.

The Lancaster County Sheriff's Office was investigating another death before responding the shooting at Cedar Creek Tackle.

Sheriff's office spokesman Tom Holland said his agency received information from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department on Tuesday about Charlotte resident Ada Judith Torruco, 33, who had been reported missing June 10 by her family.

Charlotte authorities said it was possible that Torruco had been killed and her body dumped in remote Lancaster County on the dirt portion of Mount Carmel Road.

Someone is firing shots from a home near Cedar Creek Tackle that sheriff's deputies have surrounded, a sheriff's office spokesman said.About 11:45 a.m. three shots were reportedly fired through the back window of a home in the area Lancaster County Sheriff's Office deputies were searching after a shooting at Cedar Creek Tackle, according to police radio and Lancaster News reporter Jesef Williams, who is at the scene.The Lancaster County Sheriff's Office is investigating at shooting death at Cedar Creek Tackle on Cedar Creek Road (S.C.